Our campaign to #FixFundraising
For over a decade, the #FixFundraising coalition has advocated for the harmonisation of fundraising rules, to fix Australia’s out of date, complex, and inconsistent fundraising laws that impose unnecessary burdens on charities, diverting precious resources away from core mission.
Harmonising fundraising laws nationally means 60,000+ Australian charities would be freed up from debilitating red tape and be able to focus on delivering vital services, like helping communities affected by floods, working to prevent homelessness, tackling family and domestic violence, or delivering life-changing community services.
Recent progress and challenges
Government commitment to the National Fundraising Principles
In February 2023, our #FixFundraising campaign proudly marked a monumental advocacy win with the announcement that the Commonwealth, State, and Territory Treasurers agreed to implement the National Fundraising Principles, a set of nationally consistent fundraising principles.
The National Fundraising Principles we’ve been calling for offer a simple solution: a single set of modern, fit-for-purpose rules for all registered charities to comply with wherever they fundraise in Australia. The National Fundraising Principles will drastically reduce the amount of costly and time-intensive paperwork charities must deal with to fundraise effectively. Butut they must be implemented in a harmonised way, including:
- Ensuring the agreed National Fundraising Principles are adopted into law without amendment. If governments make even minor changes to the wording of the principles (now or in the future), there will no longer be a single set of principles for charities to follow.
- Switching off all local fundraising rules. If they don’t switch off all existing local fundraising rules, charities will continue to have to navigate different rules in each jurisdiction.
The current state of implementation
While the National Fundraising Principles were agreed to by all governments, they must be implemented individually by each State and Territory and progress has been painfully slow. Different jurisdictions have adopted the National Fundraising Principles in different ways, and implementation remains incomplete in some parts of Australia. See our resource on the National Fundraising Principles for information on the current state of implementation.
If you’re involved in a charity or not-for-profit organisation, you can find out more about your organisation’s current legal obligations in Not-for-profit Law’s fundraising resources.
What needs to happen next
After the National Fundraising Principles are implemented across Australia, we need governments to:
- Work together in a coordinated and collaborative way, and in consultation with the sector, to develop uniform regulatory guidance to support charities to understand and comply with the principles.
- Remain committed to maintaining nationally harmonised fundraising laws in years to come.
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